43rd District

REPRESENTATIVE SENATOR REPRESENTATIVE Legislative Frank Jamie Nicole Chopp Pedersen Macri Report

Dear Friends and Neighbors, We’re pleased to bring you this update on the 2019 legislative session. Policies we passed prioritize quality education, health and wellness, strengthening our communities, and protecting our environment. Outcomes of this legislative session reflect our commitment as Democrats to provide opportunity and hope for all by putting people first. Improving our behavioral health system Unfortunately, most lives have been touched in some way by mental health issues, including substance use disorders; yet help can be difficult to find. Our budget funds more local care resources and state programs to help people in need. We also passed legislation to ease our behavioral health workforce shortage and build the nation’s largest behavioral health teaching hospital. Expanding higher education access and affordability A post-secondary degree is important to compete in today’s global economy. But that dream is out of reach for too many families simply due to the growing costs of higher education. This session, we increased financial aid and student success programs – including free higher education for low- and middle-income families – to give more people the opportunity to grow and thrive. Improving our K-12 education system Historic investments in our public school system put our state’s 1.1 million K-12 students first, but there is much more to do. Our budget and new laws increase special education funding and local levy flexibility to honor our commitment to all students. Strengthening our safety net Many people struggle every day just to survive, let alone thrive. This year’s budget increases homeless outreach and support, and bolsters the Housing and Essential Needs program to help struggling families and neighbors in need throughout the state. Protecting our environment Climate change threatens our very existence, and declining orca and salmon populations are the result of a damaged environment. This year we enacted innovative clean energy and clean building legislation to combat climate change and invested in efforts to help our orcas and salmon. Reducing health care costs and expanding access to care We passed a public option health care plan, guaranteed ACA protections into state law, and expanded access to reproductive health care services regardless of sexual identity or immigration status. To address the coming “age wave” and needs in the disability community, Democrats passed the Long-Term Care Trust Act, a first-in-the-nation social security program to ensure families have access to long-term care. Take a look inside our newsletter for additional budget and policy highlights from this year’s legislative session. Thank you,

Rep. Sen. Rep. Nicole Macri 43RD DISTRICT LEGISLATIVE REPORT Rep. Frank Chopp Increased access to health care  Created Cascade Care to offer a new, more affordable health care option to families  Continued to provide health care for 1.8 million people through the Apple Health program  Launched several new strategies to confront the opioid crisis and get people into recovery Prioritized behavioral health  Pioneered a new model of health care that weaves behavioral health into every facet of the medical profession  Funded a 150-bed behavioral health campus at the University of Washington to train tomorrow’s health care workers and treat This year we made historic progress towards our community members struggling with mental health issues improving the lives of millions, by focusing and substance use disorders on the priorities and needs of people across  Created a 24/7 tele-psych hotline to ensure that people in crisis Washington. Working together we… receive life-saving assistance across the state Invested in K-12 education Made college free for those who need it the most  Continued to increase state spending for public schools by billions of dollars  Led the nation in creating a model to waive tuition for low- income students and reduce tuition for middle-income students  Gave voters the ability to choose to spend more on enhancing their local schools  Worked with high-demand industries to help students find good-paying jobs in health care, science, and technology  Invested in special education to make sure all students succeed  Invested in college counselors to make sure that students take Expanded social security advantage of every opportunity  Created a first-in-the-nation social insurance program to help Took action to build a clean energy economy protect families from the high cost of care for aging loved ones  Expanded health care for workers with disabilities Mandated 100% clean electricity by 2045   Began implementing our Paid Family Leave Act so workers can  Brought environmental advocates and blue-collar champions take the time to care for new or sick family members together to create green jobs  Created a first-in-the-nation energy efficiency standard for More work to do… large commercial buildings to cut carbon emissions To address the challenges facing our state, we are working  Invested in salmon recovery and worked to protect our in positive and productive ways. For example, I am leading Southern Resident orcas from oils spills and marine vessels efforts to develop thousands of affordable homes at specific sites for low-wage Secured funding to build homes workers and low- income people in need.  Invested over $400 million in the State Housing Trust Fund and The list of projects local government efforts for affordable housing include housing and  Allocated significant funding to Home and Hope projects to services for homeless create thousands of affordable housing units with built-in early youth on Capitol Hill learning centers, health clinics, and other community services and in the University District. Please give  Passed legislation to protect renters from unfair landlords me a call if you’d like to get involved. 43RD DISTRICT LEGISLATIVE REPORT

COMMITTEES: Senate Law & Justice Committee (Chair), Sen. Jamie Pedersen Early Learning & K-12 Education, Rules, Ways & Means Preventing gun violence Improving education After decades of inaction, the tide is turning in favor of common- Public schools in Washington state serve more sense gun safety measures. Washington voters are responsible for than 1.1 million K-12 students. About 52 percent much of the progress, passing statewide ballot measures to extend of the next biennial state operating budget is background checks to private sales and allowing family members to dedicated to educating our children, including an seek court orders to keep guns away from those who are at risk of increase of $4.7 billion from the last two-year hurting themselves or others. budget. The 2019 Legislature also recognized the importance of giving school boards the flexibility In 2018, the legislature banned bump stocks, added domestic to set local priorities and fund enrichments to violence harassment to the list of conditions that prevent people from the program of basic education by giving local communities more buying a firearm, and adopted a first-in-nation measure enabling flexibility to raise local levy money for enrichment. This policy change people struggling with mental illness to place themselves on a will allow Public Schools to raise about $3,070 per student, or firearms do-not-purchase list. The voters capped 2018 by passing $160 million, in 2020 to fund targeted investments such as additional Initiative 1639, an ambitious ballot measure increasing the purchase nurses, librarians, and counselors. The Legislature also made changes age and requiring enhanced background checks for semi-automatic to the formula that determines how much additional special education weapons, as well as requiring safe storage of all firearms. In 2019, money is directed to school districts. As a result, this year’s budget the legislature passed additional firearms safety bills to save lives includes $155 million for special education over the next four years. by keeping guns out of the hands of people who pose a threat to The 2019-21 capital budget includes $1 billion for school construction themselves or others. to modernize our facilities and give our kids more room to learn, including a special allocation of $20 million to ease overcrowding in Seattle Public Schools. Advancing LGBTQ rights Washington state has been fortunate for many years to have courageous champions in the state Legislature who stand up for historically-marginalized communities. Their work on behalf of communities of color, immigrants, and the LGBTQ community helped our state advance civil rights protections long before other states or the federal government. The nine LGBTQ members in the House and Senate work closely together to address inequities affecting the LGBTQ community. This year we celebrated the passage of several important bills: • SB 5181, which prohibits possession of a firearm for six months by • SB 5332 modernizes the state’s 1950s-era vital records statutes, someone placed in involuntary treatment for a 72-hour period. That which govern birth, death, and marriage records. The revised statute individual may petition the court after six months to regain access to will conform to our updated Uniform Parentage Act, recognizing that his or her firearms. families come in many configurations. It also confirms in statute the right to have a non-binary gender marker on records. • HB 1225, which facilitates the removal of firearms after reported incidents of domestic violence; • HB 1732 replaces the term “malicious harassment” with the better understood “hate crime” and increases the punitive damages that a • SB 5205, which prohibits possession of a firearm by someone victim may seek. found by a court to be incompetent to stand trial and who has a • SB 5602, the Reproductive Health Access for All Act, guarantees history of violent acts. access to reproductive health services regardless of sexual orientation • SB 5027, which improves the state’s extreme risk protection order or gender identity or expression for all plans regulated by the state. law, passed by voters in 2016. The bill clarifies the law’s applicability • SB 5356 creates a Washington State LGBTQ Commission and to minors and adds a prior conviction for a hate crime to the list of designates June of each year as LGBTQ month. factors the court must consider when determining whether to issue • SB 5689 requires the state school directors association and the an extreme risk protection order. state superintendent of education to develop and update a model • HB 1739, which prohibits the manufacture, sale, or possession of transgender student policy to eliminate discrimination based on undetectable firearms, such as 3D printed firearms. These weapons gender expression in public schools. would not be detected by airport or courthouse screeners and so • SB 5027 adds a prior conviction for a hate crime to the list of present a significant public safety risk. factors a court must consider in determining whether to issue an extreme risk protection order.

43RD DISTRICT LEGISLATIVE REPORT

Rep. Nicole Macri COMMITTEES: Health Care & Wellness (Vice Chair), Appropriations, Finance Affordable homes and stable communities for all All corners of our state and everywhere in between are facing affordable housing and homelessness crises. At the same time, eviction rates have skyrocketed, and most people who are evicted go right into homelessness because they can’t find a place to live that they can afford. This year, I was proud to champion a bold eviction reform aimed at truly and justly balancing the relationship between tenants and landlords by increasing the pay-or-vacate notice timeline from three days to fourteen days. This change gives most folks time to earn another paycheck to come up with rent money. Seattle, King County, and local governments around Washington State LGBTQ Commission the state are already putting to use another new law we This year I was very proud to sponsor the House companion to SB 5356 passed allowing them to to create the Washington State LGBTQ Commission. This will be only the keep a portion of their sales second cabinet-level commission in the nation focused solely on LGBTQ tax revenue to help ease affairs. The Commission created under our bill will allow the LGBTQ homelessness and build community a formal, permanent seat at the table to provide input into affordable housing. legislation that might affect LGBTQ communities. It will also assist in coordinating state programs to address the needs of LGBTQ subgroups. Universal health care The membership of the Commission will be balanced, based on different Universal health care has long been a progressive policy goal, and criteria such as race, gender, and socioeconomic positions. this year we made our greatest stride yet by convening a workgroup Cleaning up our own House to chart a path to universal health care in our state. We’ll bring together patient advocates, large and small businesses, labor, As with many workplaces, the problem of sexual harassment and health care providers and facilities, insurers, and state agencies to bullying in the Legislature festered for decades. Last year, more than make recommendations for the legislature on how best to create a 200 women in the legislative community came together to sign a universal health care system that is sustainable and affordable for “Stand With Us” letter. Since then, the legislature has taken significant all Washingtonians. steps to end this culture of harassment. We passed a resolution that I introduced establishing the legislature’s Code of Conduct and a bill Additionally, the Reproductive Health Access for All Act and budget that will make sure lobbyists get training on respectful workplace investments will improve access to family planning services for practices. As a legislator, I feel a moral responsibility to end the culture immigrants and trans people. of harassment in Olympia.

Credit: Dennis Wise Courtesy Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture 43RD DISTRICT LEGISLATIVE REPORT

People First Budget

The economy has done well over the last two years, It’s a question of fairness. Working families pay their fair which resulted in overall revenue growth for the state. share. We think Big Oil, Big Banks, and Big Tech companies However, Washington’s broken and outdated tax structure should, too. These corporations at the very top of our cannot keep up with the needs of our state’s rapidly economy have received state tax incentives and large tax growing population. cuts at the federal level. They benefit from an educated workforce, stable communities, diversity, and an excellent Our tax structure is also incredibly unfair, especially for quality of life. low- and middle-income families and small businesses. It’s clear our revenue system is upside-down when low-income While the operating budget supports hundreds of important families pay more than 17% of their household income in state services, our primary focus this year was on improving taxes, while Washington millionaires and billionaires pay less our state’s behavioral health system, expanding access to than 3% of their income in taxes. At the same time, national higher education, fully funding K-12 schools, strengthening and multi-national companies are making record profits, our safety net, and protecting our environment. which have increased significantly thanks to the Trump corporate tax cuts.

Community investments Our state’s capital budget puts people to work building public schools, colleges, state parks and infrastructure like rural broadband. We prioritized investments that will allow all residents in Seattle to thrive. These investments include affordable housing, K-12 education and higher education facilities construction, toxic cleanup, behavioral health facilities, job training for formerly homeless people, childcare, community centers that serve low- income communities and communities of color, preservation of Native American culture, and accessible arts programming, among others. Seattle highlights:  Bellwether Housing Statewide highlights:  Capitol Hill Housing Broadway  $1.1 billion to build public schools, including $43 million for  Seattle Public Schools rural and distressed schools  FareStart  $973 million for projects at public colleges and universities,  University Heights Center for with $408 million for community and technical colleges and the Community $34 million for a new behavioral health teaching hospital at  Seattle Opera  Seattle Symphony the University of Washington  Seattle Theatre group  $154 million for projects at state mental health facilities,  Roosevelt Childcare Center including the design of a new forensic hospital and the  Northwest Native Canoe Center design and construction of new 16-bed and 48-bed  Green Lake Dock Replacement behavioral health facilities  AIDS Memorial Pathway  $585 million for orca, salmon recovery, and water  Volunteer Park Amphitheater quality projects PRSRT STD 43rd District Legislative Report US POSTAGE PAID REPRESENTATIVE SENATOR REPRESENTATIVE SEATTLE, WA Frank Jamie Nicole PERMIT NO. 1885 Chopp Pedersen Macri

PO Box 40600 • Olympia, WA 98504-0600

Contact your representatives: REPRESENTATIVE SENATOR REPRESENTATIVE Frank Chopp Jamie Pedersen Nicole Macri Olympia Office: Olympia Office: Olympia Office: PO Box 40600 PO Box 40443 PO Box 40600 Olympia, WA 98504-0600 Olympia, WA 98504-0443 Olympia, WA 98504-0600 Phone: (360) 786-7920 Phone: (360) 786-7628 Phone: (360) 786-7826 housedemocrats.wa.gov/chopp http://sdc.wastateleg.org/pedersen housedemocrats.wa.gov/macri [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

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